Stuff comes flying at you from all angles. Emails, letters, phone-calls, faxes, visitors, customers, family, media. Stuff, stuff and more stuff. Everywhere. If only it would stop for a minute, you could catch your breath and get on top of it. But the stuff keeps coming. It's relentless.

Because you've got no time to make time, here are 4 teeny-weeny words that will make all the difference.

Do
Dump
Delegate
Defer

Now that's not so bad is it? Even the more forgetful of us can remember that little quartet. But what do they mean?

Do
As the famous footwear manufacturer Nike say - Just Do It! If stuff is in your face, and is important, then do it. It's as simple as that.

Dump
Garbage, rubbish, trash, call it what you like, most people have a big round file under their desk which is waiting to be filled up. Whether you dump things for real, or just metaphorically, simply not doing things is a great time management tool. Would the world really end if you didn't do it?

Delegate
Upwards, downwards, left or right, if it needs doing but could be done better by someone else, then delegate it. Can't let go? Then remember by doing it yourself, your wasting your time, throwing your life away, and depriving someone of the learning opportunity that doing the task may present. So be generous and delegate instead.

Defer
Can't do it right now? Then get out your diary and plan in time when you will do it. Notice that defer is your last option. If your defer pile is growing exponentially, then go back to the dump and delegate questions and try harder.

And that's that. A snappy personal time management article, that probably took less than 60 seconds to read. Remember the 4 key-words - Do, Dump, Delegate and Defer and you'll remember the importance of time management forever.

Download 'The Importance of Time Management' in pdf format